At the evening class tonight, I taught the use of a white waxwood staff exercise for shoulder and elbow rotational control. Please see the video here.
Shoulder and elbow exercise with a staff
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This exercise has extremely great potential to tune up the body areas mentioned. To try it you must watch carefully how Master Chen uses his rear arm (and his hand position) and waist, particularly. A short staff can be used to get the motion correctly then a long staff can be used to add weight and increased reach and direction. For those without waxwood, bamboo can be substitited if available.
This is also a good reality check for those who already know the “Lazy Dragon Lies on the Beach” reeling exercise. Many barehand stretching exercises are similar to this one. The advantage of this particular exercise is that once a staff is in hand, you immediately will know which joint in out and which is in. Of course OUT is not a good thing. Every part of the body including every joint must be inline with the movements of the staff.